Thank you netgalley and publisher for the ARC in exchange for a honest review.

I really wanted to love this book. The story and book cover really drew me in however I found that I could not connect with the characters or story. I love a sapphic fantasy and this was a good start but I felt like it could have been better with a little more time.

Dark and twisty! Interesting folklore and very atmospheric. This was a really good sapphic fantasy story. There is also a lot of mystery and intrigue. I rated this a solid 4 stars

If you’re looking for a tall woman to be mean to you, this is the book for you. Excellent world building, compelling central mystery, engaging lead characters - what more could you want!

A special thanks to Netgally and the publisher’s for the arc.

Wow, I had really high hopes for this book because the cover is gorgeous and the storyline sounded interesting. Sapphic rivals to lovers who have to solve a murder mystery while dealing with mystical creatures?? SIGN ME UP.

I however could not get behind the message this book presented. I’m supposed to root for the guy that wants to unify entire nations under one rule and basically kill any culture that does not match his views??? I’m supposed to support colonization???

No, thank you. That is all.

Welcome to a world steeped within the world of German folklore and bits of German history. "A Dark and Drowning Tide" by Allison Saft is a sapphic, dark academic rivals-to-lovers romance steeped in the slowest of burns. Our FMC is the Folklorist Lorelei Kaskel, a Yevani (heavily implied fantasy version of Jewish) who has spent her academic career fighting against Sylvia Von Wolff (and prejudice) for an esteemed roll under her mentor Zeigler. As a team led by Zeigler, Lorelei, Sylvia and their 4 companions head out on an expedition to find the Ursprung - a lake believed to be the source of all magic and said to harbor untold power. That is, until Ziegler is found murdered and the only people who could be responsible are the 6 remaining academic counterparts. But that is just the start of their tragedies as one thing after another starts to fall apart on their quest, the possibility of any of them surviving quickly starts to become a dream.

I don't know if how "A Dark and Drowning Tide" is how Allison Saft typically writes her stories but I unfortunately just did not connect as fully as I wanted to. I unfortunately just felt like every element was just scratched at the surface and never fully dove into and explored. The murder mystery aspect of the story never became a real investigation, Lorelei simply seemed to just be throwing darts at a wall hoping to get a bullseye. The expedition I had hoped to be filled with folklore and explore the fantasy aspect of this fantasy romance book felt awkwardly crammed in with brief explanations that just didn't fully land. Unfortunately with our narrator Lorelei, she spent so much of her time not wanting to feel anything, I ended up not really caring for the characters. She hated them, they were cruel and indifferent to her, therefore I was indifferent to them. I felt almost as if we had entered an already existing story toward the end of it and never really got the context that connected it together. I wanted to care, I wanted to get engrossed in the story and the characters and the complicated relationships that existed but it was just missing some deeper factor that could pull me fully in.

I enjoyed the premise, the information we were given of the characters and how Saft handled the antisemitism and hatred that exists in our reality and brought it to this world, especially since we are existing in a German influenced world.

None of this is to say this is a bad book, perhaps I had different expectations when one of the main advertisers is rivals-to-lovers when I entered this story. It just didn't wow me or pull me in as much as I wanted it to. I just wish there was more, more to give time to connect with the characters, more to let the fantasy to sink in.

Thank you to NetGalley and Del Rey for the arc of this book.

At first, I thought the beginning was a little slow, but once the expedition started the story picked up. I loved the mystery between these 5 noble friends who are friends of the King... one of them had to have killed the head leader of the expedition on the first night. Lorelei, the main leading character, is viewed as a lower-than-low being, but she is the leading scholar of this expedition to find the Ursprung magical spring, which contains the main source of magic. If she succeeds in finding the spring, then she will have a place in court and be safe. Lorelei has to now find the murderer on this trip so that she isn't accused of murder. It's life or death for her and to top things off, her rival Sylvia von Wolf is one of the 5 nobles on the trip. It doesn't help that she somehow is also attracted to Sylvia. The two end up having to work together to solve this murder and find the spring. I enjoyed their banters and tension. I liked the magic in this book and the different creatures. Sylvia reminds me of Luna Lovegood. You can't hate her and she carries a sabor with her. I gave this book a 3.5 stars. I liked the story and enjoyed reading it, but it wasn't grabbing me at the very beginning.

Thank you Random House Publishing for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

I can’t I’m in love with these two, I’m absolutely obsessed with Allison Saft’s writing, and even though I’ve only read two of her books my point still stands. I was so excited when I got a digital ARC of this that I might have shed some tears... This became a top three of my most anticipated books of this year after reading A Far Wilder Magic by her earlier this year (which I also loved and still think about), and it was so worth it omg. Thank you thank you thank you so much to NetGalley for the ARC

The rivalry between Lorelei and Sylvia was too good! I mean the bickering!!! And then them having to team up together even though Lorelai has such a strong “dislike” for Sylvia? I lived for it! Lorelei is such a complex character, which honestly I kind of dig, but it was nice seeing her open herself up more after being guarded for so long. And Sylvia coming to be that person for her that Lorelai could trust, the pining, was just lovely.
It was pretty magical, it had similar vibes to the Emily Wilde books, which I loved! I enjoyed the way it was written and the building of it was captivating.

Moody, atmospheric, and memorable. An engaging and twisty read that sticks with you. Also, the cover is gorgeous and draws you in, which doesn't hurt at all.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley and am voluntarily posting a review. All opinions are my own.
Having read and enjoyed all of Allison Saft’s previous YA titles, I was excited to hear she was writing an adult book, not to mention that it would be a sapphic fantasy! While there has been danger with me hyping books in the past, I ended up really enjoying this one. I loved the blend of the fairytale and folktale themes.
The world building isn’t the most obvious, especially at first, and I admit I was a little lost, especially being thrown in as I was. But it definitely suits the vibe Saft is going for, with the fairytale thing, and as I came to grips with everything, I ended up liking it.
Lorelei and Sylvia are intriguing characters, and while I did feel that there was a sense of…distance (if that makes sense?) in how the text depicts them, as you get a sense of what they feel, but it’s not a true emotional connection. The prose style likely played a role in this slight distance. However, I still more or less empathized with them, and loved their developing romance, with them starting off at odds and growing into more amid the dangers on their expedition.
There’s a lot going on, with not just the romance and the incorporation of the world’s politics and external dangers, but the murder mystery, which kept me consistently turning pages to find out what would happen next.
While this is (as far as I can tell) a standalone, and Saft mainly writes standalones, I am not opposed to her writing more in this vein or in this world. Fans of Saft’s prior work, especially those looking to cross over and try more adult fantasy won’t be disappointed with this book, and I’d also recommend it to readers interested in a sapphic fantasy with a fairytale vibe.

I was anticipating this book so highly. Unfortunately, it fell flat for me. I am currently over 30% through the book, about 100 pages in, and I feel I have no connection to the characters. There also seems to be too many characters, it’s hard to keep track of who is who and who did what to who. It’s a murder mystery, but I don’t really care about who did it.

I wish so badly that this book worked for me. It had so many things I love, a sapphic relationship, a mystery, and dark academia. However, it just didn’t click with me.

Thank you so much for the ARC!

3.5 stars

Sapphic dark academia folklore with a murder mystery is something I would devour. While the writing is beautiful and the world seems really interesting, there are a lot of elements that I think needed some more polishing to bring together more cohesively. Once I started looking at Lorelei and Sylvia as a Wednesday x Enid reimagining, I was a lot more invested. I wish the investigation had more evidence searching earlier on. Why would you not search the compartments immediately after a murder?

There were lots of info dumping parts that were really offputting and random folklore bits that were lovely, but the way they were integrated was jarring, though that could be a result of the formatting. I wanted more interaction with the creatures like the mara and nixies. I wasn't blown away by this one, but I'd be willing to try another of the author's work.

Thank you to NetGalley and publisher for the opportunity to read and review.

This was my most highly anticipated read of the year and IT DID NOT DISAPPOINT! This was the first book by Allison Saft that I’ve ever read and it won’t be my last. As a queer Jewish woman this book hit me in the gut and had me so emotional. I resonated deeply with Lorelei and she easily has become my favorite character of all time. Lorelei slowly realizing how deeply in love with Sylvia she was felt organic and exciting to read.

The writing was lyrical but still easy to read and accessible. I loved all the different elements in this book such as the murder mystery, the Jewish folklore, the ROMANCE and the themes of antisemitism and survival guilt. Saft was able to weave all of that together to create such a beautiful book. I will be thinking about this book for a long time and it’s hands down my favorite book of the year!

I suspect I might have a better time will this if I tried it again later; I’m struggling to read anything right now, so I’m not convinced that my ambivalence is all the book’s fault.

On the other hand, I really hate the German-inspired setting. It’s completely petty, but all the German terms a) sound very ugly to me, and b) give me flashbacks to high school German lessons, which were hands-down the most awful of any classes I’ve ever had. (It’s possible a and b are related.) The magic system disappointed me – it seems really simple, and I don’t have any interest in water magic for its own sake. And the magical quest object…it all felt really basic and obvious – which isn’t very like Saft, so again, I’m wondering if the problem is more my headspace than the book. Maybe it wouldn’t feel as meh if I wasn’t feeling meh…?

I love that Saft has given us fantasy!Judaism again, but nothing else about our MC Lorelei interested me – her passion for natural history was told to us, but I wasn’t seeing it on the page, which is a shame because characters with passions are one of my favourite things. There’s also the problem of ‘wow, EVERYONE here is terrible!’ – and not in interesting ways, either. The ‘eccentric nobles’ are just privileged assholes, which is definitely realistic, but doesn’t get me invested in them.

I want to try this again sometime – maybe when it’s published – but right now I have no desire to keep reading, so I’m not going to.

I enjoyed the dark academia setting, the rivals-to-lovers romance, the suspense of the murder plot, and the commentary on antisemitism. The story was engaging and addictive.

A Dark and Drowning Tide is a fantasy/dark academia/murder mystery about an expedition trying to find a magical source. When the academic mentor and leader of the expedition is mysteriously murdered, academic rivals Lorelei and Sylvia come together to find the killer and continue the expedition. Listen, if you tell me there is going to be folklore in a book, I'm in!! After reading the book description, I immediately thought this sounded like a combination of Emily Wilde's Encyclopedia of Faeries and A Study in Drowning, which were two of my favorite books of last year, so I had very high expectations coming into this book and was so excited to have an ARC!

I'm really sad to say that I was ultimately left disappointed by this book. Lorelei is the POV character and she was very unlikable to me. A lot of that came from self-sabotage, but she also seemed to hate people in general. Seeing the fantasy world through her lens made me not like any of the other characters as well (except for Sylvia. I liked Sylvia!) I really struggle when I don't like the main character of a book, and this book was no exception. Living in her head was a lot of angst, anger, grief, and frustration, which was not a fun place to be. Although Lorelei was a folklorist, I didn't see any love or enthusiasm for the genre. I liked that folklore was sprinkled within the book, but it often surprised me when they came up because it took me out of the story. This was really disappointing to me as I love when folklore is incorporated, but it just fell flat here.

Although this is a fantasy world, Lorelei is Jewish (although called by a different name, she's very clearly Jewish). Her people have a similar past to this world and she feels a lot of wariness and resentment towards people of dominant cultures, which I totally understood. I really liked that Jewish folklore was represented and considered alongside "traditional" German folklore. I also liked that Lorelei was a character from an urban culture, which I feel like we almost never get to see in books based off of Western folklore.

I feel like the pieces were here for such an amazing book, but it all just didn't come together in the end for me. I'm not even super sure what happened. I did think the epilogue was adorable, but that was pretty much the only happy part of the book. The vibes were so dark and there was not a lot of joy to offset it. This made it difficult for me to care about the characters, world, and plot. I found myself pushing through while hoping it would get better. This is the first book for me by the author and I'm wondering if her YA novels might be more of what I'm looking for. As it is, this was just too dark and not enough academia for me.

Overall, I recommend this book if it sounds up your alley and you like unlikable/morally gray main characters. 3.5 stars from me rounded down to 3. Thank you to Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley for the eARC, my thoughts are my own!

I liked this better than Saft's third book but less than her first and second. As this was her adult debut I think I expected a bit *more*... more romance/spice, more complex worldbuilding/fantasy, even more violence and gore. There was a little of each thing but not enough for my expectations. It was still enjoyable though and I would recommend to Saft fans and fantasy fans alike!

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book early.

A Dark and Drowning Tide follows Lorelei, a folklorist on an expedition with her mentor and a few others to find a fabled spring when her mentor is murdered and the only innocent one is her rival, Sylvia.

I really enjoyed the structure of the book, with the heavy focus on finding the Unspring. I liked how the crew journeyed around on the ship and on land, stopping at inns and meeting the local people. The characters were also very vibrant and interesting and I was curious about all of their backgrounds.

I did wish the book was a bit longer or split into two parts and I felt like more could be explored in this world in greater detail and I just wanted so much more from it!

Thank you Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley again for the chance to read this early.

A Dark and Drowning Tide is a folklore heavy, atmospheric, sapphic academic rivals to lovers romantasy.

What works really well here is the atmosphere, the setting, and the individual characters. The cover says pretty much all you need to know about the atmosphere. There is dark, unknowable nature magic plus a murder mystery. I also felt really grounded in the world and appreciated the deep dive into the cultures that were the subject of colonization in this story. One of the MCs is a folklorist and a Jewish woman and a main conflict in the book relates to the history of antisemitism, how it is passed through stories, and how it continues to affect her.

Because I found these parts of the book to be so well done, the potential was so high, so I was particularly disappointed with the issues. First there were multiple, major continuity errors that I am hoping are fixed before publication, but they really took me out of the story. Second, there was a lot of telling, not showing with the romance. So much so that I was not invested in it. I think there needed to be more of a foundation for their rivalry and their romance. Finally, I won’t spoil anything, but I don’t think any conflicts were resolved in the end except maybe the immediate threat of danger.

Thank you to Del Rey and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy.

This was a very interesting book but it infodump in some areas and left us wanting for info in others. They kept saying how this expedition was childhood friends and how they fought in a way together but its only ever told and not shown. I was kinda expecting it to come all out as a lie that they were never actually friends.

I did like the representation and real life depiction of being Jewish in a Medieval/Renaissance type land. I also liked the idea of exploring worlds to write books about magical creatures. Overall an interesting story I think many will like.